Love Is A Choice
by Michael Doyle

Sometimes I silently look at you
In awe and wonder at all you do
And I know, it's true what some say
I fall deeper for you with each day

For the good and bad of this voice
I know that our love is from choice
Somewhere inside my simple mind
At least, I know our God has been kind

Putting aside any and all poetic pretense
What I think of what love is in a sentence
I know that I don't need to measure and quantify
Nor is there a need to gauge to further identify

Love, our love, is the singular deep choice
More than a feeling, but the stillest voice
That resides inside me whispers intention
My love for you gets my deepest attention

In the name of our love, I forget to be selfish
Putting your needs first, I act as if selfless
The cosmos quietly puts me to this sort of test
Oddly, I think only what it is that is your best

To know without really taking time to know
I support you as you thrive and step forward to grow
This is true love, and true love is this choice
Always, I find that I obey listening to this voice

There are times when you've caused me great upset
But within a moment's breath, I remember to forget
With every step forward for us, I have lived this
Processing inside, I find it in me, this forgiveness

You, my love, will always be worth it to forgive
Because without you, I might survive but would not live
When you're loving, I hold you close, and then closer still
When you upset me, and I know that I always will

A thousand times over, I choose to keep you in my life
In you, I have found my sanctuary from all this world's strife
As I hold your hand, there is one thing I truly understand
There is nothing to come that our love will not withstand

Still, there are limits to sharing that are our quandary
Just where is it that we set the limits as our boundary
It is true that I have let you into the depths of my heart
The funny thing is that you have been there from the start

There in my heart you will stay in my good and bad days
My sanctuary, as I am for you, love is love in our ways
There is a comfort that I feel in your loving embrace
A love as sure as the cure of the love on your face

There are times you can be annoying but it is understood
That as sure as I love you, I will always seek the good
You are human with failings, but you also have virtues
These are what I see most and choose to in all that you do

Our love is openly declared without allowing any resentment
To creep in, but instead, a happy sense of total commitment
There is our bond that we choose to forge as we're capable
We seek the dreams of tomorrow, knowing all things possible

Still, we both know our love is an overwhelming feeling
In all ways, we were drawn together, it's compelling
Like bonded souls we recognized each other as just right
The moment we met, perfect companions at our first sight

We fell in love and live in love each and every day
Together we have come to practice our true love ways
Each of us sees the ways we have come to be conformed
As we have loved deeper as our love becomes transformed

So, there it is, as said before, each moment's revealing
That our love is a choice made and every bit a feeling
Like a magical garden planted in our souls and nurtured
I can hardly wait for every taste as our love matures

(c) September 10, 2024   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved